Ted Talk: Grit and Success

In this Ted talk Angela Lee Duckworth discusses her journey to discovering that the key to success is grit. Grit, as Duckworth puts it, is the passion and perseverance for long term goals.

To me, grit goes hand-in-hand with resilience. Grit can be defined as mental toughness, resolve, courage, or strength of character.

What struck me the most from this talk is connection between talent and grit. Duckworth says they found often an inverse relationship with talent and grit. Thinking back over my childhood and education I can see that ringing true. I was often praised for being smart, which came naturally. Lucky for me, I didn’t need to study. This has bitten me a few times since then. I struggled through my first year of computer science at University and I have a lot of side projects that I didn’t stick with long enough to see them through.